Disneyland and Culture: Essays on the Parks and Their Influence

by Kathy Merlock Jackson (Editor), Mark I. West (editor)

The success of Disneyland as the world's first permanent, commercially viable theme park sparked the creation of a number of other parks throughout the world, from Florida to Japan, France, and Hong Kong. But the impact of Disneyland is not confined to the theme park arena. These essays explore a far-reaching ideology. Among the topics are Disney's role in the creation of children's architecture; Frontierland as an allegorical map of the American West; the "cultural invasion of France" in Disneyland Paris; the politics of nostalgia; and "hyperurbanity" in the town of Celebration, Florida. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may .

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2010

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s call it “Disneyland the capitalist fuckboy and why we eagerly let him play with us” because I don’t see the cultural influence it promised to tell me but,

I liked the first essay on hyperrealism and Disneyland as the first of its kind, inventor of the “theme park”, a 4d artwork in the same category as books and films.

(I liked other essays too just not all of them as the subjects sometimes bored me but this is just personal interest)

Orgasmic for fans of armchair psychology and people with actual psychology degrees alike.

[Heather Downs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays covers many aspects of the cultural implications of Disneyland. Most of these essays are excellent. However, there are one or two that should not have been included in this text. Recommended for those who are interested in cultural studies of Disney.

[MH · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of academic essays about the Disney parks that leans far more into the descriptive than the theoretical. That's not a criticism, but the contributors sometimes contradict one another depending on the depth of their research - some writers only list one or two books about Disney in their bibliographies, while others have clearly made it a serious study, with the result that one writer will write at great length about something (about the origins of Main Street USA, say, or the Disneyland TV show of the 50s) and another will write about how that information is a popular myth or has been debunked. A few essays were clearly modified for the topic once the call came out (one in particular mentions Disney in the introduction and conclusion, and then not at all in the rest of a piece about PBS reality shows) and some feel a bit dashed off, but there are some very nice pieces here, particularly Suzanne Rahn's chapter on the changing narratives of the Snow White ride and Mark I. West's work on children's architecture and Tom Sawyer Island.

[Cantrelle Peppin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource for those doing case studies.